Video: Sturgeon spawning expected to begin Monday

Apr. 28, 2013

Sturgeon have started their spawning run on the Fox River below the dam in De Pere, Thursday, April 26, 2012. / H. Marc Larson/For Wisconsinoutdoorfun.com

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NEW LONDON — The warm weather over the last 3-5 days has increased water temperatures on the Wolf River, which has led to increased sturgeon activity.

Ryan Koenigs, fisheries biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said he expects spawning to occur today and Tuesday.

Typically, he said, sturgeon exhibit some pre-spawn behaviors that allows biologists to predict roughly when spawning will take place. The first behavior is porpoising (rising up above or jumping out of the water), and fish typically begin this behavior a few days before spawning begins and increases in intensity as spawning activity gets closer.

The second behavior is known as “cruising” and involves sturgeon moving up and down the shoreline (typically males), but no spawning activity is actually taking place. Typically cruising takes place 1-2 days before spawning gets underway, and again increasing in prevalence as spawning gets closer.

“Right now on the Wolf River there are fish cruising at the Sturgeon Trail on County X in New London and at Bamboo Bend in Shiocton, as well as a few other sites on private property,” Koenigs said Sunday night. “Given the warming water temperatures, I think that sturgeon are going to start spawning at these two sites sometime Sunday evening or early Monday.”

Koenigs anyone that would like to see sturgeon spawn, is advised to come to one of the two sites today or Tuesday. Peak spawning typically only takes place at a given spawning site for 1-2 days.